Rita Hayworth ~ 1941 and collection of her romantic photos






















Rita Hayworth ~ 1941 and collection of her romantic photos


Life Magazine ~ August 11, 1941

I have obviously shared Rita's world famous pin-up photo in the past. I just wanted to clear up a few things for Rita's faithful. From what I have read, it is one of the most reproduced pin-ups in history. And I don't find that difficult to believe. I have seen it in poster format at Wal-Mart.

Most people subscribe to the idea that it was between Rita and Betty Grable in the battle of who was the #1 Pin-up Girl during WWII. I for one do not subscribe to that way of thinking. I know Rita was at the top, but who was #2 is a fuzzy gray area in my opinion for my reason to follow. 

Rita was considered the #1 pin-up girl until Betty's photo, taken by 20th Century photographer Frank Powolny, began being "distributed" in 1943. The key word here is "distributed". 20th Century Fox printed over 3 million copies of Betty's over the shoulder pose and shipped them overseas to the soldiers. They then claimed that more soldiers had Betty's pin-up than any other actress, and added that she was now the #1 pin-up girl relocating Rita to #2. Well no kidding, you just shipped 3 million copies of Betty's photo to the soldiers.

One thing you have to understand about Rita's pin-up was that it was not taken by Columbia, and the rights to that photo were not owned by Columbia. Therefore they could not distribute Rita's Life Magazine photo, which by the way was taken by Life photographer, Bob Landry. So the only way you could obtain a copy of Rita's photo was to have the magazine. Rita's photo was the most sought after and coveted pin-up photo by the soldiers during WWII. Rita was #1 so don't let anyone tell you any different.

Rita's position as #1 pin-up was only solidified when in 1945 a poll was conducted and Rita was voted #1 by the soldiers. And in a ceremony on June 10, 1945 Rita received what is known as the "GI Oscar". It was a citation proclaiming Rita as the #1 "Back Home Glamour Girl". And it wasn't just for her beauty. No one did more for the war effort than did Rita. There was also a full page write up in the July 16, 1945 issue of Life. I know this citation exists because the original document Rita received is in my possession.

Don't get me wrong, Betty's photo was popular, but the fact that 20th Century Fox distributed the photo negates Betty being even considered #2 in my opinion. In addition, I am also of the opinion that since Rita was #1, and a former contract player at 20th Century Fox that was let go by Darryl Zanuck, this in turn spurned them into the publicity move to supplant Rita as to top pin-up. And just to reiterate, that last phrase is my opinion.

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